Police seek cause, ID after man's body found in bay in Sea Isle City

Sea Isle City, NJ - A body was found in the bay area of 43rd Place in Sea Isle City, NJ on Thursday, August 15, 2013.

Don Kravitz

Sea Isle City, NJ - A body was found in the bay area of 43rd Place in Sea Isle City, NJ on Thursday, August 15, 2013.

Don Kravitz

Sea Isle City, NJ - A body was found in the bay area of 43rd Place in Sea Isle City, NJ on Thursday, August 15, 2013.

Don Kravitz

Sea Isle City, NJ - A body was found in the bay area of 43rd Place in Sea Isle City, NJ on Thursday, August 15, 2013. The police were not providing any information pertaining to the incident.

Donald B. Kravitz

Sea Isle City, NJ - A body was found in the bay area of 43rd Place in Sea Isle City, NJ on Thursday, August 15, 2013. The police were not providing any information pertaining to the incident.

Donald B. Kravitz

Sea Isle City, NJ - A body was found in the bay area of 43rd Place in Sea Isle City, NJ on Thursday, August 15, 2013. The police were not providing any information pertaining to the incident.

Donald B. Kravitz

SEA ISLE CITY — Authorities have yet to identify a man whose body was found floating in the bay outside the Sea Isle City Marina on Thursday afternoon, and an investigation into the cause of his death is underway.

State Police went to the bay behind the marina between 42nd Place and 43rd Place at 12:26 p.m. following a call about the discovery of a dead body. The victim was described as a white man, 50 to 65 years old, about 5 feet, 5 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall. He was believed to have weighed 140 to 150 pounds and was wearing black cargo shorts and a tan, short-sleeved, collared shirt.

Sgt. Adam Grossman said there were no indications of foul play, but the Southern Regional Medical Examiner’s Office would ultimately determine the cause of death.

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Kim Welischek and her family have rented a home on 43rd Street for the past 11 summers. She said she was looking out onto the water from the top deck when she saw something floating. Not thinking much of it, she said, she went with her cousin to pick up lunch, and when she returned, she noticed it again.

Some family members took a closer look and discovered it was a body and alerted police.

“I’m just glad the kids didn’t see it,” she said. “They’re usually out there fishing or crabbing.”

Boats from the State Police and Coast Guard arrived, and the commotion drew a number of people who were walking by. Some fishermen said news of the body spread after they saw the police boats pass by, and the news was a talking point for many during the day.

Anthony Edwardi, manager of Mike’s Seafood & Raw Bar Restaurant, one of the many businesses surrounding the water where the body was found, said people came through to get a better look at the water, but for the most part things stayed normal.

“We let the State Police and Coast Guard do their work,” he said. “We stayed out of their way.”

Authorities left the scene a few hours after the body was found, and many people were boating and kayaking right where the body was located in the afternoon.

The marina holds about 100 boats and is a popular part of the city.

Fred Potts was cleaning his boat with his grandson Michael and was unaware of what had happened nearby just a few hours earlier.

“That’s absolutely shocking,” he said.

Potts, Edwardi and others said the news reminded them of an event that occurred in February 2009, when the body of Tracy Hottenstein, 35, a marathon runner and pharmaceutical saleswoman from Conshohocken, Pa., was found along the muddy banks of the 42nd Place bay by a fisherman.

The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Hottenstein’s death accidental, but the Prosecutor’s Office still seeks information from the public about what happened every year around the anniversary of her death during the Polar Bear plunge.

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